Apparatus for the continuous manufacture of precast reinforced concrete products, particularly slabs and beams

ABSTRACT

Apparatus for the continuous manufacture of precast reinforced concrete products. There is provided an elongated mold track with the rails arranged on both sides thereof. Means for distributing concrete are supported on said rails for movement therealong. Said molds are supported on said mold track by suitable carriage means which are themselves supported on said rails. Vibratory compacting and smoothing means may also be supported, interchangeably if desired, on said carriages. Stepwise movable separating means, which may include a vertically vibratory knife, are supported on said rails and arranged for suitably cutting the poured concrete into selected lengths. Heat insulative covering hoods are arranged over said molds and means are provided for lifting said hoods off from mold carrying carriages wherein the concrete material is partially dried and replacing same over freshly poured concrete products.

United States Patent [191 Gunia [1 1 3,732,052 1 May 8, "1973 [73] Assignee: Friedr. Remy Nachfolger GmbH,

N'euwied/Rhein, Germany 22 Filed: Feb. 22, 1971 21 App1.No.: 117,545

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Feb. 24, 1970 Germany ..P 20 08 457.5

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Davis et a] ..425/63 Kinnard ..425/218 X Frey ..425/289 Primary Examiner.l. Spencer Overholser Assistant Examiner-Dewalden W. Jones Att0rneyWoodhams, Blanchard & Flynn 57 ABSTRACT Apparatus for the continuous manufacture of precast reinforced concrete products. There is provided an elongated mold track with the rails arranged on both sides thereof. Means for distributing concrete are supported on said rails for movement therealong. Said molds are supported on said mold track by suitable carriage means which are themselves supported on said rails. Vibratory compacting and smoothing means may also be supported, interchangeably if desired, on said carriages. Stepwise movable separating means, which may include a vertically vibratoryknife, are supported on said rails and arranged for suitably cutting the poured concrete into selected lengths. Heat insulative covering hoods are arranged over said molds and means are provided for lifting said hoods off from mold carrying carriages wherein the concrete material is partially dried and replacing same over freshly poured concrete products.

15 Claims, 20 Drawing Figures P IENIEB 81915 3, 732,052

SHEET 1 [1F 7 IN V EN TOR K4416 GYM A4 PATENTED M Y 8 ma SHEET 3 BF 7 P u, WM

7 y 4 a m PATENTED m N 7 SHEET 5 OF 7 INVENTOR K4446 GYM/b4 PATENTEU 973 sum 6 OF 7 mm 3 a; H 3 i MAL/.5 mm/M m 6M APPARATUS FOR THE CONTINUOUS MANUFACTURE OF PRECAST REINFORCED CONCRETE PRODUCTS, PARTICULARLY SLABS AND BEAMS The invention relates to the manufacture of precast reinforced concrete products, particularly slabs and beams. Such precast concrete products have up to now been manufactured in individual molds. This type of manufacture requires much manual work and is thus very expensive. Furthermore the quality of theprecast concrete products depends on the operators so that there is present in current processes the danger of considerable waste.

The basic purpose of the present invention is to provide an economical and qualitatively perfect production with a greater output and less manufacturing expense than is at present usually experienced and doing so by means of acontinuous operation.

The production equipment of the invention which is particularly intended for the continuous manufacture of slabs and beams is characterized by at least one stationary, horizontal, heated mold track of substantial length which is supported on a foundation, rails arranged on both sides along said mold track, a concrete distributor movable on said rails for applying and distributing the fresh concrete on the mold track, a production unit which is continuously moving on said rails and which consists of compactors (vibrators), smoothing means and sliding molds and also a stepwise moved separating device, a plurality of heat-insulating covering hoods for the mold track and a conveying device which is moved synchronously or stepwise with the production unit and which successively lifts the covering hoods positioned in front of said production unit and sets same down again onto the mold track beliind sad unit.

The details of this production unit and its advantages will be discussed more in detail hereinafter in connection with one exemplary embodiment illustrated in the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic top view of a production equipment for slabs and beams;

FIG. 2 is a partially cross-sectional side view in direction II of FIG. 1 of a mold track, production devices and a movable tunnel;

FIG. 3 is a front view in direction III of FIG. 1 of the production equipment;

FIG. 4a is a side view of the production unit with sliding mold; I FIG. 4b is a schematic top view of the production unit with sliding mold;

FIG. 5 is a cross section of a mold track and sliding molds for the manufacture of L-shaped concrete slabs;

FIG. 6 is the same cross section with a sliding mold for the manufacture of concrete slabs with rectangular cross section; 2

FIG. 7 is the same cross section with sliding mold for the manufacture of T beams;

FIG. 8 is schematic side view of a moving device for covering hoods with a cleaning machine;

FIG. 9 is a front view in direction IX of FIG. 8 of the moving device;

FIGS. 10 to 19 illustrate various operating positions of this moving device with a cleaning machine.

The particularly advantageous production equipment illustrated in the drawing has closely spaced two stationary, horizontal, heated mold tracks 1 and 2 of substantial length which are supported on a foundation 3. On both sides of said mold tracks 1 and 2 rails 4 are arranged on which production devices can be driven, particularly to concrete distributor 5 for applying and distributing fresh concrete onto the mold track together with a continuously moving production unit. This production unit consists of a Compactor 6 (vibrator), a recompactor 7, a smoothing means 8 and the sliding molds 9 to 14. It consists furthermore of a stepwise moving separating device 15, here advantageously provided with a cutting knife 16 which is preferably adapted for a vibratory perpendicular movement. The empty zone of the mold track indicated with the arrow C is used for inserting the reinforcement cages.

The above-described production equipment consists further of a plurality of heat-insulating covering hoods 17 for the mold tracks 1 and 2 and a conveying device 18 to 20 which is moved synchronously or stepwise with the production unit (FIG. 2) and with which the covering hoods 17, which are provided in front of the production unit 6 to 8, are lifted one after the other (arrow B) and are then set down behind said unit on the mold track as indicated by the arrow A. A tunnel 22, 23 is provided for each mold track which tunnel is movable lengthwise of said mold track on rails 21 and protects the production unit, the conveying device and the operators. The tunnel is moved synchronously or stepwise together with the production unit 6-8, 15. Thereby in the illustrated exemplary embodiment the conveying device 18-20 is advantageously arranged on the tunnel construction and is constructed in such a manner that the covering hoods, as indicated by arrow B, are lifted and are moved above the production unit 6-8, 15 or also laterally of said unit to the set-down location. An elevating mechanism 18 which operates by suction means is advantageously provided for this purpose. Said elevating mechanism 18 moves the covering hoods onto a horizontal conveyor track 19 (advantageously a belt conveyor) which moves the hoods 17 onto the elevating mechanism 20, which advantageously also operates by suction means, which then places the hoods onto the mold track in the direction of the arrow A so that the precast concrete products provided on said mold track are covered with these hoods. Accordingly, the movable tunnels 22 and 23 have several functions: They not only are a weather protection for the production unit, the workmen and the fresh precast concrete products but simultaneously serve also with the conveying device 18-20 to transport the covering hoods 17. They further are used for the energy supply of the production devices. A currentfeed cable can thereby be arranged lengthwise of the mold tracks from which cable the current is guided into the tunnels 22, 23 through a current collector.

The mold tracks 1, 2 are advantageously made of concrete and are provided with built-in heating elements, for example heating tubes 24 for warm water or steam. In order to prevent heat loss, the underside of each mold track is provided with an insulating" layer 25. The mold track advantageously consists further of precast concrete products which are provided with elevation-adjustable supports, for example screw bolts,

as indicated at 26. The individual track sections can be aligned precisely horizontally in transverse and longitudinal direction with said adjustable supports. The entire mold track is thereby advantageously arranged at a distance a above the foundation 3. The thus created space is subsequently filled with an elastic, insulating material, for example polyurethane foam. This elastic layer which is not only provided for insulating but mainly for dampening the vibration is indicated at 27. This is to prevent the vibrations which the vibrator 6 applies to the mold tracks 1 and 2 from being transmitted to the foundation and the rails 4 and thence to the sliding molds 9-13. Thus, the separate arrangement of the sliding molds from the vibrating device 6 prevents hannful vibrations from being applied to the sliding molds and consequent damage to freshly formed slabs or beams.

As can be taken from the drawings, each mold track consists of a level plate 28 and lateral, downwardly extending angles 29 which are, as aforedescribed, supported on the foundation 3. An outer vertical mold wall 30 is provided on said angles so that, as illustrated in FIGS. 5 to 7, by using suitable sliding molds on one and the same mold track, slabs and beams of different cross section can be manufactured. Thus it is possible according to FIG. 6, to manufacture two rows of concrete slabs 31 having rectangular cross sections by means of the lateral sliding mold 9 and the central sliding mold 10. According to FIG. 5, it is, on the other hand, possible to produce two rows of L-shaped concrete slabs 32 by means of the sliding molds 11 and 12. Further, according to FIG. 7, T beams 33 can also be manufactured by means of the sliding molds 13 and 14.

As can be taken from the drawings, particularly FIG. 4, the sliding molds 9 and (according to FIG. 6) are supported on their own carriage units 34, also the sliding molds of FIGS. 5 and 7 on carriage units 34a, 34b. As illustrated in FIGS. 4a and 4b, the two compactors 6 and 7 and also the smoothing means 8 are constructed as easily exchangeable structural units. These are connected, or coupled, for example, by angle section poles 45. The assembly consisting of the units 68 is furthermore coupled with the carriage 34 of the sliding molds 9, 10 (or 11, 12/13, 14). For this purpose, U-pieces 46 can be secured to the rods 45, which U-pieces grip around the vertical posts of the carriage 34 so that during the forward or backward movement of the unit 6 to 8, said carriage is moved along. Furthermore, elastic buffers 35 (advantageously also of U profile) are provided between the U-pieces 46 and the vertical posts of the carriage 34. This arrangement assures that harmful vibratory movements produced particularly by the vibrators 6 and 7 are not transmitted to the sliding molds 9 to 14 but instead said molds are isolated and remain at rest whereby damage to the fresh precast concrete products is prevented. Due to this arrangement and also due to the vibration-dampening intermediate layer 27, it is possible to move the production unit 6-8 together with the sliding molds at a very high speed of approximately I m./min. and more, thus to achieve a high output of this production unit.

The aforedescribed separating device 15 which operates with a cutting knife 16 is moved synchronously with the production unit 6-8. It is stopped by a stop, for example a holding magnet, which is adjustably arranged on the molds 30 so that then by lowering the separating knife 16, the fresh concrete product is separated at the desired length. After this separating process, the device 15 is again moved until it reaches the unit 6-8 and moves on synchronously with it.

The economical production of precast concrete products is further improved by a hood moving device which has elevating mechanism in such a manner that these permit the simultaneous lifting off of several covering hoods 17 and the movement of same over the hoods still on the mold track. In the illustrated advantageous construction, this moving device has several equal connectable individual devices 36 the elevating mechanism of which consists advantageously of several suction heads 37 which, as can be seen from the drawings, can lift the covering hoods 17 into the position 17' illustrated in dashdotted lines. The illustrated three individual moving devices 36 have a total length which corresponds to the length of the largest concrete product (for example 15m.) which is to be manufactured. Behind said connectable moving devices 36, there is arranged a cleaning machine 38 which can be moved lengthwise of the mold track for cleaning said track. This machine can, as is indicated in FIG. 6, be moved with rollers 39 on the outer mold walls 30, thus independently from the moving devices 36. Furthermore behind the connectable moving devices 36 there is advantageously arranged an independent short moving device 40 under which the cleaning device 38 is located in its normal position in which the short moving device forms a stop 41 for the moving devices 36.

The operation of this hood-moving device and cleaning machine is illustrated in FIGS. 10 to 19. The sufficiently hardened finished parts 31/33 which are still covered by the hoods 17 must be removed from the mold track. For this purpose, the moving devices 36 lift the hoods positioned therebelow sufficiently high that they are moved thereby into the position shown in FIG. 11. Thus the lifted hoods are above the hoods 17 remaining on the track. The-exposed finished parts 31/33 are then lifted ofi" the mold track by means of a crane, for example a gantry crane 42. The cleaning machine 38 is then moved until it reaches the position illustrated in FIG. 12 and has cleaned the mold track. Thereupon the moving devices 36 return to their initial position as illustrated in FIG. 13. The short moving device 40 serves as stop for the devices 36 which assures the exact return of the hoods 17 to their correct position (FIG. 5). At this return of the hoods by means of the lifting elements, a hood 17 is set down above the cleaning machine. Now, as shown in FIG. 15, the moving devices 36 and the short device 40 travel on until the short device 40 is again above the cleaning machine 38. The moving devices 36 now again simultaneously pick up several (in this example six) hoods 17 and move into the position of FIG. 16. The crane lifts the exposed finished parts 31/33 and the device 40 lifts the covering hood 17 located on the cleaning machine. According to FIG. 8, the cleaning machine now starts again to operate while the device 40 sets the hood 17 onto the cleaned concrete track. In FIG. 9, the cleaning machine has arrived at the still covered finished parts. As shown in FIG. 19, the moving devices 16 return the hoods 17 into theirinitia l position and set same down on the mold track so that they again occupy the position shown in FIG. 13.

In the advantageous embodiment illustrated in the drawings (particularly FIG. 1) it is possible, by arranging two (possibly also more) mold tracks 1 and 2 sideby-side, to work with only one set of production devices. For example, in such an arrangement the production devices start on the track 1 and move with the associated tunnel 22 from the left to the right. The

production devices 5, 6 to 8, are then, for example by means of the gantry crane 42, moved from the track 1 onto the mold track 2 so that now these production devices together with the tunnel 23 operate from the right to the left on the track 2. If the mold track is for example 240 m. long and the production unit has a speed of approximately lm/min., this production on two tracks takes approximately 8 hours. By the heat of the mold track, the precast concrete products are then hardened so that they can be lifted off the tracks. For this purpose (see FIG. 1) the hood moving device 36,

40 with the cleaning machine begins its operation in the direction of the arrow. The production devices can then again be moved from the track 2 onto the track 1 so that then these production devices together with the tunnel 22 follow the moving devices 36, 40. In this manner cyclic production is very economical and a high output can be achieved.

' Not only slabs and beams of a reinforced concrete but, if necessary, also of prestressed concrete can be manufactured with the production equipment. In such case, the abovementioned cutting knife 15 is constructed as a comb to separate the fresh concrete positioned between the tensioned wires. Finished parts of both heavy concrete and also light concrete (for example pumice concrete) can be manufactured with the production equipment of the invention.

The new production equipment requires only relatively small investments since all devices can be used to their full extent. Since for long mold tracks only movable, relatively short tunnels are required, both their cost and the mold costs are low. The mold tracks of concrete represent with their large mass a goodheat storage and thus result in optimum hardening conditions for the finished parts For the entire aforementioned transporting operations one single crane is sufficient which crane can be constructed as a gantry crane and, if necessary, can also serve, as indicated in FIGS. 2 and 3, for transporting the fresh concrete produced in the mixing unit 43 which is transported in a skip for concrete 44 in order to then unload the fresh concrete into the concrete distributor 5.

The production equipment of the invention has further the great advantage that the production of structural elements of reinforced concrete is also possible in the winter. In order to prevent a formation of snow and ice on the paths for the operators indicated in FIGS. 3 and 3a, these paths can be heated like the mold tracks.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as fol lows:

1. Apparatus for the continuous manufacture of precast reinforced concrete products, particularly slabs and beams, comprising:

at least one stationary, horizontal, heated mold track of substantial length which is supported on a foundation;

rails arranged on both sides along said mold track;

a concrete distributor adapted to be moved on said rails for applying and distributing the fresh concrete on the mold track;

a production unit on said rails which consists of compactors, smoothing means and sliding molds;

means for continuously moving said unit;

a separating device connected to said unit with means for moving in a stepwise manner;

a plurality of heat-insulating covering hoods for the mold track; and

a conveying device adapted to be moved with the production unit and which is adapted to successively lift the covering hoods positioned in front of said production unit and set same down again behind said unit onto the mold truck.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein for each mold track there is arranged a tunnel adapted to be moved lengthwise of said mold track and protecting the production 'unit, the conveyor mechanism and the operators, which tunnel is moved together with the production unit. 4

3. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the conveying device is arranged on the tunnel construction and is constructed in such a manner that the covering hoods are lifted and are conveyed above the production unit to the settingdown place.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the mold track consists of concrete with built-in heating elemerits and the underside of the mold track is provided with an insulating layer.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the mold track consists of precast concrete products and that these have elevation-adjustable supports for alignment.

6. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein an elastic, insulating layer is arranged between the mold track and the foundation.

7. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the mold track consists of a level plate and lateral, downwardly extending angles which are supported on the foundation, which angles each have an outer vertical mold wall so that with suitable sliding molds slabs which are rectangular, L-shaped slabs and Tshaped beams in cross-section can be manufactured.

8. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sliding molds are supported on separate carriage units.

9. Apparatus according to claim 8, wherein compactor and smoothing means are constructed as equal, exchangeable structural units and are coupled to one another and there are interposed elastic buffers to the undercarriage of the sliding molds.

10. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a hood moving device movable on the longitudinal rails and having elevating mechanisms, which hood moving device permits the simultaneous lifting off of several covering hoods and their movement above the hoods which are still on the mold track.

11. Apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the moving device has several connectible equal individual devices.

12. Apparatus according to claim 10, wherein a cleaning machine adapted to be moved lengthwise of more mold tracks are arranged closely spaced side-byside and for these only one set of production devices, movable from one track to the other track, is arranged in such a manner that cyclic production can be obtained.

15. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the separating device has a cutting knife adapted for vertical vibratory movement. 

1. Apparatus for the continuous manufacture of precast reinforced concrete products, particularly slabs and beams, comprising: at least one stationary, horizontal, heated mold track of substantial length which is supported on a foundation; rails arranged on both sides along said mold track; a concrete distributor adapted to be moved on said rails for applying and distributing the fresh concrete on the mold track; a production unit on said rails which consists of compactors, smoothing means and sliding molds; means for continuously moving said unit; a separating device connected to said unit with means for moving in a stepwise manner; a plurality of heat-insulating covering hoods for the mold track; and a conveying device adapted to be moved with the production unit and which is adapted to successively lift the covering hoods positioned in front of said production unit and set same down again behind said unit onto the mold truck.
 2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein for each mold track there is arranged a tunnel adapted to be moved lengthwise of said mold track and protecting the production unit, the conveyor mechanism and the operators, which tunnel is moved together with the production unit.
 3. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the conveying device is arranged on the tunnel construction and is constructed in such a manner that the covering hoods are lifted and are conveyed above the production unit to the setting-down place.
 4. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the mold track consists of concrete with built-in heating elements and the underside of the mold track is provided with an insulating layer.
 5. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the mold track consists of precast concrete products and that these have elevation-adjustable supports for alignment.
 6. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein an elastic, insulating layer is arraNged between the mold track and the foundation.
 7. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the mold track consists of a level plate and lateral, downwardly extending angles which are supported on the foundation, which angles each have an outer vertical mold wall so that with suitable sliding molds slabs which are rectangular, L-shaped slabs and T-shaped beams in cross-section can be manufactured.
 8. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sliding molds are supported on separate carriage units.
 9. Apparatus according to claim 8, wherein compactor and smoothing means are constructed as equal, exchangeable structural units and are coupled to one another and there are interposed elastic buffers to the undercarriage of the sliding molds.
 10. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a hood moving device movable on the longitudinal rails and having elevating mechanisms, which hood moving device permits the simultaneous lifting off of several covering hoods and their movement above the hoods which are still on the mold track.
 11. Apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the moving device has several connectible equal individual devices.
 12. Apparatus according to claim 10, wherein a cleaning machine adapted to be moved lengthwise of the mold track is arranged behind the connnectible moving devices for cleaning said track.
 13. Apparatus according to claim 12, wherein behind the connectible moving devices there is arranged an independent, short moving device under which the cleaning device is located in its normal position in which the short moving device forms a stop for the connectible moving device.
 14. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein two or more mold tracks are arranged closely spaced side-by-side and for these only one set of production devices, movable from one track to the other track, is arranged in such a manner that cyclic production can be obtained.
 15. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the separating device has a cutting knife adapted for vertical vibratory movement. 